While so-called wood burning stoves have existed for many years, for some time such stoves were considered somewhat outmoded by the use of more efficient liquid and/or gas fired heaters and heating systems. As is well known, however, wood burning stoves, especially those suited for installation in existing fireplaces, have become quite popular because of the recent scarcity of and increases in the cost of liquid and gaseous fuels as compared to solid fuels, such as wood and coal. Thus, many homes now use wood burning stoves as a sole medium for heating the home or to augment other types of heating equipment in the home.
Although considerable progress has been made in the efficiency and operation of wood burning stoves over the past few years, to my knowledge, most wood burning stoves have presented a substantial problem of smoke escaping from the combustion chamber or firebox into the room when the access door of the stove was opened. This problem has been further aggravated in the case of stoves of the type whose fireboxes are virtually airtight, with the exception of a controlled draft and a normally minimal exhaust or discharge of the products of combustion or smoke outwardly through the chimney so as to obtain highly efficient burning of and maximum heat from the fuel in the combustion chamber.
It is known to provide stoves with a damper operable connected to the access door of the stove so as to be opened when the door of the stove is opened. Stoves of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 204,406, 1,066,962 and 2,444,402. However, since the access door of a stove of this type is relied upon to concurrently move the damper to an opened position as the access door is being opened, it has been determined that in some instances smoke can escape through the access door opening while the damper is being opened, thus defeating, to some extent, the intended purpose of the opening of the damper.